


Sibling Rivalry

by DGCatAniSiri



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 06:05:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17218385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DGCatAniSiri/pseuds/DGCatAniSiri
Summary: A blow up between the Ryders leads Gil to drop some heavy truths on the Pathfinder's sister.





	Sibling Rivalry

**Author's Note:**

> I used one of my custom Ryders (see him [here](http://dgcatanisiri.tumblr.com/image/158669506617) and [here](http://dgcatanisiri.tumblr.com/image/158767477042)) for this story, but it's really not mentioned beyond a couple of uses of his first name, since it felt wrong for his sister to not use that.
> 
> I really wish that we'd gotten more of a chance to make the Ryder siblings relationship more variable, but I suppose that was intended to be included in DLC (damn you, EA! *shakes fist*), so we just have the in-game limited variation. So, for the purposes of this fic, understand that my Pathfinder Ryder has a big, tangled ball of mess of Unresolved Issues™ with his family. I've dropped bits and pieces of it in some of my prior Gil/Ryder fics, but this serves as kinda the big character background info dump on him.

It had been quiet on the Tempest lately. Quiet was nice, meaning that the galaxy wasn’t on fire and going to hell. Quiet was even a cause for celebration, meaning that no one was at each other’s throats for the last five minutes.

Gil didn’t trust the quiet.

Oh, sure, it was nice, at least assuming that you weren’t aware of the ambient noise that meant the ship was running the way it should – if the soft thrum of the engine core couldn’t be heard, especially in the engine room, there was trouble. But quiet also meant that it wasn’t going to be long before something else came along and threw it all to hell.

The Initiative had had six hundred years of quiet. When it ended, they’d flown headfirst into the Scourge. And the kett. The angara were, on the whole, a positive, aside from the Roekaar. And Meridian was beautiful. Still, all the trouble that they’d been through to get there... Not to mention the issues that the Initiative still had with the exiled... Yeah, with second wave coming out of the ice, that was definitely going to be a serious issue, very soon. Gil kept his ear to the ground with the Nexus betting pools, and there was a very large pot on how long it would take for the families and friends of those who’d been exiled to call for Tann’s head, figuratively or literally, and it was growing by the day.

So while the quiet was nice, Gil was of the belief that it was absolutely and undoubtedly a sign that something worse was coming on the horizon. 

And, he’d noted, he wasn’t alone. Vetra seemed on edge about the quiet as well. Most humans found it difficult to read turians, but you don’t sit across someone at a poker table for over a year – first on the Nexus, now here on the Tempest – without managing to get a good idea of their body language.

With the Tempest about ready to depart Meridian, having decided that there were some various things that could use the Pathfinder’s touch (Jaal seemed eager to take advantage of the Initiative’s enthusiasm for exploration to try and see if they could discover any system that might have any angaran colonies that had been cut off by the Scourge, while Suvi was practically beside herself to compare pre- and post-Meridian Vault worlds), really, they were just waiting on the Pathfinder to come back on board.

And, sure enough, as if he’d been summoned, here came Ryder now. Gil flashed him a grin – hopefully a sexy one – as he started for the ramp, getting a look of almost relief from the other man. 

Before he could make it up the ramp, however, his sister appeared behind him, running towards the Tempest. “Jake!” At her call, Gil saw Ryder wince, and he could practically feel the tension in his shoulders just looking at him.

_Uh oh..._

“Jake! What the hell?” Sara was not happy, scowling as she held out a datapad.

“’What the hell’ what, Sara?” Ryder asked, sounding actually rather annoyed with what he was having to put up with.

She didn’t seem fazed. “I have a clean bill of health from Harry! I’m ready to go out and see Heleus. So why am I getting mission assignments for Meridian? Signed off by the human Pathfinder? Why are you reassigning me from the Pathfinder team?”

“Look, Sara. The Tempest isn’t a luxury liner, we only have so much room. Adding someone to the roster means even less room that’s already at a premium. Someone joining now means that we have to start rotating the bunks in shift, and that’s some of the little privacy some of the crew get.” Ryder wasn’t wrong – they were pretty much full up, since the ground team members had basically set up in whatever room they made themselves at home in (except Drack, who snoozed wherever he felt like it, like the grouchy grandpa he was, and no, Gil would not call him that to his face). 

But it was clear that Sara had no willingness to accept that as an explanation. “Oh come off it. You could find room if you tried. I trained for the Pathfinder team! I should be out there!”

“Meridian is the greatest find in Heleus, Sara. You’re the prothean researcher, remember?” Ryder countered. Gil heard the anger in his voice, and it reminded him about the conversations they’d had about how he’d wanted to be the one exploring ancient ruins. But with everyone around him expecting Alec Ryder’s son to follow in his career path...

Gil didn’t think this conversation was on track to end well.

Sara didn’t seem to realize it, barreling on. “Yeah, prothean. Which the Remnant distinctly aren’t. Look, just because I’ve spent weeks in comas doesn’t mean I can’t be out there. Come on, little brother-”

“Enough, Sara!” The sharpness of Ryder’s voice cut her off entirely – she seemed to recognize that she’d hit the wrong button, and there was no way out of this now, if there ever had been. “You’re not on the Tempest team, and that’s that.” And he turned his back on her, boarding the Tempest.

Gil looked to Ryder as he passed, but Ryder shook his head – he wasn’t able to deal with other people right now. So, as Ryder made his way towards the cockpit, Gil activated his omni-tool.

“Hey, Suvi? How long until we launch?”

“ _Right now, we’re really just waiting on the Pathfinder’s word._ ”

Casting a glance towards Sara Ryder, who still seemed confused about how that conversation had gone, Gil shook his head. “Yeah, uh... Can you stall like five, ten minutes for me?”

“ _Sure thing, Gil. Need to pick up a new card deck?_ ”

Gil couldn’t help the short laugh that brought. “Something like that. I’ll ping you an okay when I’m ready, alright? And don’t tell Ryder I’m why we’re not leaving.”

“ _No problem._ ”

Closing the commlink, Gil made his way down the Tempest’s loading ramp. Sara didn’t seem to know how to take what had just happened, looking almost relieved at his approach.

“Gil... What was that?”

“He’s your brother. Shouldn’t you know?” Blunt, maybe. But Gil had picked up pretty early on that the Ryder family as a whole didn’t handle subtlety very well. Better to just cut straight to the point, rather than beat around the bush.

“I’ve just... I’ve never seen him like that. He’s normally just...” She trailed off, her confusion genuine.

Which touched a bit of a nerve for Gil on his lover’s behalf – she really had no idea what her brother felt? So much for twins having some kind of psychic bond... “Just what, Sara? Rolled over for whatever your father wanted, because he was trying to please him?”

Now she scowled. Reasonable, all things considered, to be angry at someone lashing out at you. “I’m not our father, Gil.”

“No, you’re not. But you also weren’t here while he was trying to figure out how to deal with his death. And I’m not blaming you for that, you didn’t have any control over being in a coma. But that means that you didn’t get to be here for him working out how he felt about your dad, and, by extension, you as well.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” The worst part of her accusing tone was that it sounded so genuine – she really didn’t know what issue her brother might have with her. She had no idea what her own brother, someone she’d grown up with, felt. 

Sometimes, Gil was grateful to be an only child. At least that meant that there wasn’t this person who he would have spent his whole life around completely misunderstanding him.

“You know why he joined the Alliance, right?”

Her expression said that she saw the question as a non sequitur. “He wanted to see space, see the unknown.” 

Swing and a miss. The worst was that it was pretty obvious that she genuinely believed what she was saying.

“No. He joined because everyone told him that Alec Ryder’s son should join the Alliance, be a soldier like him, and it seemed like the only way that your dad would even pay attention to him. That’s what he’s told me. He didn’t want to be a soldier, and, hell, have you even met the guy? I’m surprised no one kicked him out for mouthing off to the wrong superior officer. Probably only lasted in the Alliance as long as he did because of your dad’s name.” Given the seriousness of the subject matter, he couldn’t let himself laugh at the little nod she gave at that, as if saying ‘fair point.’ “He’s also told me that if he’d had the choice, he’d have been an archeologist. He wanted to be out there, looking through dig sites and unburying ancient ruins, and he resented you getting to do that, Sara. Because you were getting to do what he wanted. You got to live out his dream. While he was stuck aping his dad’s life.”

“That... He never said anything!” While it seemed like that was basically her mouth moving while her brain processed (if there was one thing that could for certain be said to be a Ryder family trait...).

Still, Gil wasn’t going to just let that stand. “Why would he? He was trying to keep the peace. Hell, he was trying to get your dad to give him even the time of day. And that didn’t happen.” Gil paused for a moment, thinking about if Ryder would actually appreciate him going into detail about things that he’d shared while they’d been alone, Gil letting Ryder vent about myriad ways that he’d been fucked over by having Alec Ryder as a father. Trust was important – these had been part of what they’d talked about in the privacy of their bed. 

But this was important – the last thing that Ryder would ever appreciate, even if he was angry in the moment, would be losing his sister because the two of them had a series of miscommunications. Or because one or both of them was a stubborn, bullheaded idiot (not that Ryder’s stubbornness hadn’t defeated the Archon and found Meridian, but someone had to keep him humble).

“You got to do what Jake wanted to with his life. He may have found himself coming to love the job of Pathfinder, but that doesn’t change the past. It doesn’t change that he spent years in the Alliance just to please your dad when he didn’t give him the time of day, and it doesn’t change that he was always jealous that you were the one going on the digs he wanted.” 

She stared at him in shock, as if she couldn’t believe what Gil was saying. No, that she needed to be told this. She even managed to make the connection of what had made Ryder snap at her. “So me trying to join the Pathfinder team now... makes him feel like I’m trying to muscle in on something that’s been his, when I already took his dream once before. That I’m just giving up on the thing he wanted with his life because I’m unsatisfied with it, and that just makes it worse, because I’m not committing to it.”

Gil nodded. “Your dad may have stuck him with the role when he died, but this team... This has been his. He’s made it his, he’s the one who got to define what it meant, and made this what he’s meant to do. Even if he didn’t want it to start, he’s found himself in it. And then you trying to shove your way onto his team? You call him ‘little brother.’ You sure that you’d actually listen to him as the Pathfinder, as the guy in charge of this team? Or just your kid brother, playing in your dad’s armor? Give him lip when he gives an order because you don’t think of him having the place to give you commands?”

She didn’t answer, which Gil appreciated – it meant that she was listening to him. She was thinking about how she’d come across to her brother – unintentional, it still had been condescension to him. She slumped in defeat.

Gil knew that the clock was ticking on the time that Suvi had on delaying the Tempest’s departure, but he didn’t want to leave Sara reeling from the realization that her brother was dealing with scars she’d unintentionally helped inflict. “Look, I’m not here, telling you all of this to make you feel guilty about the past.”

“Can’t help that it happened, though. I feel like an idiot for not seeing this. What kind of sister have I been, that I didn’t even realize how he felt?”

It wasn’t exactly wrong that she felt like that, Gil figured. Fair or not, he wasn’t entirely happy with anyone who’d make the man he loved feel like he didn’t deserve the best, and... Well, really, more of his anger was directed towards Alec Ryder. Easy to hate dead men. If he were alive, Gil would probably owe him a punch on Ryder’s behalf. Or he would if the man hadn’t been a trained N7 operative who could mop the floor with him with a hand tied behind his back.

“Sara, you know now. That gives you the ability to try and change it. I don’t know what you should do, but I do know who you should talk to about doing that.”

“Based on the way that conversation ended, I don’t think that he’ll really be willing to talk.”

“You hit a sore spot, Sara. I’m sure it’s not the first time. To note, you probably ought to avoid calling him ‘little brother’ from now on.” Whatever affection was meant in the name, it sounded like Ryder only heard it as a reminder of where he stood in the old familial hierarchy. Gil was willing to take a shot in the dark and guess that he’d never cared for the nickname.

Sara nodded. “Yeah, fair point there.” She made a face, shaking her head, clearly still looking to kick herself for having missed all of this for so long, for letting things get so bad. “It’s not too late to try and make things right. We’re both still here, right?” He could hear a silent ‘unlike dad’ in her words, which didn’t exactly put him at ease, given everything – Alec Ryder’s bad parenting was what had gotten them into this mess, the guy wasn’t exactly a reason to shed a lot of tears at this point.

“You want a suggestion? I’d start by trying to reach out to him and let him set the terms. He’s got a lot of baggage your dad saddled him with, even before the Pathfinder stuff, and right now, you’re as liable to trigger that as help him sift through it.”

That made her angry, though. “He’s my brother, Gil. He’s... he’s all the family I have left.”

“I know that. And if you want to keep him that way, you need to recognize that he defined himself while you were in that coma, and your dad was dead. Rather than approaching him as your ‘little brother’ who you thought you knew and understood implicitly, make the effort to get to know him. The man he is, not the version of your kid brother you have in your mind.” Gil was reaching the limits of what his psychology could offer. “You can’t go back to what you had. You need to be ready to build something new. YOU, Sara. Not him. He’s setting new limits on what he’s going to accept. If you want to have a relationship with, he’s the one who makes the terms.”

“That sounds kinda tyrannical, don’t you think?”

Ugh. _Ryders..._ Just when you thought you were reaching a breakthrough...

“Sara. This isn’t about YOU. It’s about him. What he needs. If you want to be the sister that you think you are, you need to put his needs first right now. Because the way that it comes across to me, in your family? He’s been last, over and over. If you’re ever gonna make things right? His needs need to be first, at least for now, on this. If you can get to a place where you can talk to HIM about it? Then you can start trying to see if maybe you can do things the way you want to, the way you’re used to. But the fact that he’s taking a stand now... That doesn’t mean anything wrong. It means that he’s finally found his place, and he isn’t going to let that be taken from him.”

“I am not taking any-” Sara stopped herself before Gil could, seeming to realize just how badly that was going to come across under any circumstances, but least of all now. “But it’s not about what I’m doing, it’s about how he takes it. How he feels about it. And I’ve been part of the problem.”

Gil about cheered. Hallelujah... 

She sighed again, and then finally took a step back. “Okay. I get it. I’ll... I’ll make do here on Meridian. It’s not like it’s not going to be interesting here, when we finally start really digging into the mysteries of the Jardaan. Just... I don’t want to lose my brother.”

He offered her a supportive smile. He could do that, now that she seemed to be genuinely getting it. “It’s not that you’re losing him. He’s putting distance he needs between you now. If you respect that, respect him, eventually, he’ll be willing to change that.”

“You think so?” She sounded scared, terrified of the idea that maybe her brother wouldn’t want her in his life once he’d sorted through the mess left behind by their father.

So he put a hand on her arm, trying his best at a ‘cheer up’ gesture. “You’re still his sister. You’re still his family. He doesn’t want you out of his life. He just needs to be able to figure out what he wants from it, on his terms. Not your dad’s. And not yours. He’s done pretty well for himself so far, and he oughta be able to finish it out all the same.”

“You’re right. I know you’re right. Just... It’s not easy, all the changes that have happened because of... everything here. Sometimes I start to wonder if coming to Andromeda was worth it, given what we lost.”

“You’ve got plenty to gain, too. A new understanding of your brother is just the start.”

A moment as she thought about that, and she nodded. “I guess you’re right.” She smiled at him. “Thanks, Gil. For... making me understand. And not giving up while I dealt with the good old Ryder family bullheadness.”

Gil scoffed, waving a hand. “Oh, psh. I hardly noticed.” 

She’d gotten the point, what’s a little (or big) white lie?

“Uh huh. I oughta go. The Tempest needs her engineer back. And the Pathfinder needs his boyfriend.”

“Yeah, go on. I have to go find a deck of cards or something anyway.” Or just not go into detail about things when Ryder asked him later on about the hold up.

Total trust didn’t mean that there weren’t a few points where you didn’t fudge the truth in the name of helping your partner not end up with a nuked familial relationship, right?

As Gil reentered the Tempest, opening a comm to Suvi, Ryder himself approached. “There you are. What was the hold up?” he asked. It sounded like a lot of the heat from earlier had dissipated, though there was still a hint of it in Ryder’s voice. 

“Just had a little business to deal with.” 

“Now you’re starting to sound like Vetra.”

“I love her, but I could never handle her network of contacts. Anyway, I need to go make sure that the drive core keeps humming. Just because we’ve really put her through her paces since launch, it doesn’t mean something might not try to sneak up on us.” 

Ryder flashed him a grin. “I hope I don’t have to get jealous about how much time you put in to working on the drive core.”

Gil just returned his grin. “Oh, I think I can find the time to work on you.” 

From across the cargo bay came an affectionate but still slightly disgusted sigh. “Get a room!” Cora called.

“Do they have to?” Peebee shot back from the upper railing.

Ryder ignored the peanut gallery as he pulled closer to Gil, no longer playing to the crowd. “Later, in our quarters. There, you can tell me about what you were talking to my sister about.”

Well, that really was never going to have been kept secret in the first place. Still... “Did Suvi give me up?” Her poker face wasn’t exactly top notch, bless her heart (and the credits that Gil regularly won from her).

“Kallo had camera footage on you, monitoring for when he could pull up the ramp.” Ryder smiled. “I assume you were trying to smooth things over with Sara?”

“A little. I care about you, Ryder. I’d rather not see you unintentionally burn that bridge.”

“Thanks for caring, Gil. You’re a good man.” Ryder turned to head back to the bridge, leaving Gil feeling quite pleased with himself indeed.


End file.
